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What Makes a Modern Advancement Team?
From one-person teams to well-staffed offices, advancement, and alumni relations teams today take a variety of sizes and forms. The advancement space has never really had a frame of reference for what an ideal team should look like, as institutions can vary wildly in size and resources.
By looking back at the past several years, we would like to provide some characteristics that every forward-thinking advancement team today should look to incorporate in their approach to have a successful alumni program.
What Do We Mean by a “Modern” Team?
Ideally, an advancement team today should consist of people who are agile, data-driven, and technologically adept. They also need to have a good understanding of the evolving needs of a wide range of alumni. The pandemic and post-pandemic scenarios highlighted the need for teams that can innovate and ditch tradition when needed. Modern teams are ideally driven by digital tools and data analytics to make informed decisions, personalize interaction engagement, and be able to collaborate with other teams effortlessly.
If that all seems a bit too ideal, that is because, for many teams, it often is. The ideal modern advancement team takes years to develop to the level that they can reach, and it takes even more consistency to stay at that level. Below, we’ll break down some of the key components and pitfalls on the road to reaching your advancement team’s true potential.
Essential Parts of Every Modern Advancement Team
Here are some things that you can look to incorporate. Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all all for advancement and that these are just the basics that you need to watch out for as you map your team’s journey:
• The right tool(s): Whether you are just starting to consider your long-term tools, or have some you have been using for a while, you need to choose the right tools. Take into account the resources, staff size, and staff expertise available to you
• Data-driven approach: Data is at the heart of most if not all alumni-centric communication, engagement, fundraisers, and so much more today. Having a reliable database and a CRM to make the most of your data is crucial for any modern advancement team. If you see your alumni base increasing exponentially in the future, you need to have the right infrastructure to scale alongside it as well.
• A Strong Global Alumni Network: A silver lining for advancement teams that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic was the shift towards virtual and hybrid alumni engagement. The trends from that period have been carried over today to engage local, national, as well as international alumni to form strong global networks filled with regional enclaves of well-engaged alumni.
• Scalable Personalized Engagement: While personalization has become a core part of any alumni program, communicating with alumni while having personalization efforts that can scale with an increasing number of alumni is another issue that institutions are currently tackling. From segmentation and automation to collecting feedback, ensure that your institution’s alumni engagement is not just personalized but also able to personalize a growing alumni base meaningfully.
• Omnichannel Capabilities: Alumni nowadays expect some level of value even if they are located halfway around the world. Routine webinars alone will no longer do to engage these alumni segments. Modern advancement teams need to be able to take advantage of physical, online, and hybrid channels simultaneously and importantly, make each channel feed an overall goal. For example, how can you engage remote alumni in a way they feel equally as valued as your local alumni? Are you just relying on social media to reach them, or are you making communities, providing opportunities, and constantly making them feel just as appreciated?
• Providing Diverse Engagement Opportunities: Providing value lies at the heart of any modern advancement strategy. Your team needs to be aware of upcoming trends to freshen up and diversify your offerings. If an alumni is excited about publishing their first research paper, an email will help. But if you also invited them for a guest lecture or in a workshop panel, they might feel even more appreciated.
• Adaptability: Over the past few years, the pandemic and the constant fears of economic recessions have made clear the need for advancement teams to adapt to both expected and unexpected changes. With AI usage on the rise, it also raises the question of adapting to new technology and whether it is worth it. These are questions any competent advancement teams today will need to be on top of and make the right call on.
Pitfalls to Watch Out For
While aiming to be data-centric, your advancement team must have a thought-out data strategy that can handle alumni data for years to come. When it comes to having a data strategy, it is usually the sooner the better as data is always being added or modified as time goes.
We also cannot stress enough the importance of having tools that communicate well with each other. Having multiple tools or features is well and good until they all present a piece of the puzzle that you have to put together manually each time. Any new additions to your online toolset must be integrated into a well-connected software environment. This also gives your staff a good overview of where they are as a team and as an institution.
A common and perhaps under evaluated problem is how strategies and long-term planning are always talked about when the reality is often that advancement staff often get caught up in an endless loop of daily tasks and don’t get enough time to strategize creative initiatives. In a space where creativity can really engage alumni, it is important that your staff have time for both their daily tasks as well as to innovate.
Finally, it is important to know when to be stubborn and when to take a new path. Take periodic checks on the products you use and if they still fit your needs. Do the update cycles of the provider fit your needs? What do your staff think about their experiences within the past quarter? Will your current set of tools fit your needs in the next 5 years? These are just a few examples of questions that you need to keep asking yourself to stay on top of your game.
Ultimately, the goal is to create a dynamic, responsive advancement team that can effectively support your institution's mission while providing genuine value to your alumni community. Remember that alumni want an authentic human connection to their alma mater. A modern advancement team simply uses the best strategies and tools to build and maintain that connection.
From one-person teams to well-staffed offices, advancement, and alumni relations teams today take a variety of sizes and forms. The advancement space has never really had a frame of reference for what an ideal team should look like, as institutions can vary wildly in size and resources.
By looking back at the past several years, we would like to provide some characteristics that every forward-thinking advancement team today should look to incorporate in their approach to have a successful alumni program.
What Do We Mean by a “Modern” Team?
Ideally, an advancement team today should consist of people who are agile, data-driven, and technologically adept. They also need to have a good understanding of the evolving needs of a wide range of alumni. The pandemic and post-pandemic scenarios highlighted the need for teams that can innovate and ditch tradition when needed. Modern teams are ideally driven by digital tools and data analytics to make informed decisions, personalize interaction engagement, and be able to collaborate with other teams effortlessly.
If that all seems a bit too ideal, that is because, for many teams, it often is. The ideal modern advancement team takes years to develop to the level that they can reach, and it takes even more consistency to stay at that level. Below, we’ll break down some of the key components and pitfalls on the road to reaching your advancement team’s true potential.
Essential Parts of Every Modern Advancement Team
Here are some things that you can look to incorporate. Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all all for advancement and that these are just the basics that you need to watch out for as you map your team’s journey:
• The right tool(s): Whether you are just starting to consider your long-term tools, or have some you have been using for a while, you need to choose the right tools. Take into account the resources, staff size, and staff expertise available to you
• Data-driven approach: Data is at the heart of most if not all alumni-centric communication, engagement, fundraisers, and so much more today. Having a reliable database and a CRM to make the most of your data is crucial for any modern advancement team. If you see your alumni base increasing exponentially in the future, you need to have the right infrastructure to scale alongside it as well.
• A Strong Global Alumni Network: A silver lining for advancement teams that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic was the shift towards virtual and hybrid alumni engagement. The trends from that period have been carried over today to engage local, national, as well as international alumni to form strong global networks filled with regional enclaves of well-engaged alumni.
• Scalable Personalized Engagement: While personalization has become a core part of any alumni program, communicating with alumni while having personalization efforts that can scale with an increasing number of alumni is another issue that institutions are currently tackling. From segmentation and automation to collecting feedback, ensure that your institution’s alumni engagement is not just personalized but also able to personalize a growing alumni base meaningfully.
• Omnichannel Capabilities: Alumni nowadays expect some level of value even if they are located halfway around the world. Routine webinars alone will no longer do to engage these alumni segments. Modern advancement teams need to be able to take advantage of physical, online, and hybrid channels simultaneously and importantly, make each channel feed an overall goal. For example, how can you engage remote alumni in a way they feel equally as valued as your local alumni? Are you just relying on social media to reach them, or are you making communities, providing opportunities, and constantly making them feel just as appreciated?
• Providing Diverse Engagement Opportunities: Providing value lies at the heart of any modern advancement strategy. Your team needs to be aware of upcoming trends to freshen up and diversify your offerings. If an alumni is excited about publishing their first research paper, an email will help. But if you also invited them for a guest lecture or in a workshop panel, they might feel even more appreciated.
• Adaptability: Over the past few years, the pandemic and the constant fears of economic recessions have made clear the need for advancement teams to adapt to both expected and unexpected changes. With AI usage on the rise, it also raises the question of adapting to new technology and whether it is worth it. These are questions any competent advancement teams today will need to be on top of and make the right call on.
Pitfalls to Watch Out For
While aiming to be data-centric, your advancement team must have a thought-out data strategy that can handle alumni data for years to come. When it comes to having a data strategy, it is usually the sooner the better as data is always being added or modified as time goes.
We also cannot stress enough the importance of having tools that communicate well with each other. Having multiple tools or features is well and good until they all present a piece of the puzzle that you have to put together manually each time. Any new additions to your online toolset must be integrated into a well-connected software environment. This also gives your staff a good overview of where they are as a team and as an institution.
A common and perhaps under evaluated problem is how strategies and long-term planning are always talked about when the reality is often that advancement staff often get caught up in an endless loop of daily tasks and don’t get enough time to strategize creative initiatives. In a space where creativity can really engage alumni, it is important that your staff have time for both their daily tasks as well as to innovate.
Finally, it is important to know when to be stubborn and when to take a new path. Take periodic checks on the products you use and if they still fit your needs. Do the update cycles of the provider fit your needs? What do your staff think about their experiences within the past quarter? Will your current set of tools fit your needs in the next 5 years? These are just a few examples of questions that you need to keep asking yourself to stay on top of your game.
Ultimately, the goal is to create a dynamic, responsive advancement team that can effectively support your institution's mission while providing genuine value to your alumni community. Remember that alumni want an authentic human connection to their alma mater. A modern advancement team simply uses the best strategies and tools to build and maintain that connection.
Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact, and Almabase, the digital-first alumni engagement solution, have announced the expansion of their partnership to the education sectors of Canada and the United Kingdom. The partnership will provide institutions with a modern, digital-first solution to improve constituent data, drive self-serve engagement, and boost event participation.
A Unified Vision
The partnership aligns with Blackbaud’s commitment to customer-centric innovation across digital engagement, Advancement CRM, and financials.
“Partners bring integrated capabilities that extend capabilities and outcomes for Blackbaud customers. We are thrilled that Almabase’s offering, integrated with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and leveraging Blackbaud’s best-in-class payment solution, Blackbaud Merchant Services™, is now available to even more of our customers around the world.”
- Liz Price, Sr. Director of Global Partners at Blackbaud
